Film Room: What Auburn is getting in Baylor RB Bryson Washington

Alex Golesh says he's "going to run the freaking ball." Adding one of CFB's most productive downhill weapons shows he means it.

(Auburn Football/Instagram)

AUBURN — Alex Golesh believes in establishing it.

There might be a misconception about Auburn’s new head football coach and the way he operates on offense. People think about the downfield bombs from the passing game in the veer-and-shoot from Tennessee. They look at how new quarterback Byrum Brown was an elite deep-ball threat at USF and think constant air attack.

But they might not realize that USF ran the ball more often than Auburn did in each of the last three seasons. The Bulls had a five-game stretch in 2025 that featured at least 230 rushing yards and three touchdowns in each contest. Brown was arguably the best high-volume rushing threat in the country, too.

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“We’re going to run the freaking ball,” Golesh said in his introductory press conference. “People around here like running the football, and I can respect it.”

As Ian Boyd wrote at America’s War Game in 2022 — when breaking down the Tennessee offense Golesh coordinated — it’s called the veer-and-shoot because “you have some downhill run scheme, often with quarterback run or ‘pitch’ options attached like a Veer, and then you had the vertical choice routes like a run-and-shoot.”

The first word in VnS hearkens back to old-school, power-first, triple-option football from the 1960s. As Boyd noted, it’s literally referenced in Remember the Titans.

And you have to remember that the first decade-plus of Golesh’s collegiate coaching career largely involved him coaching tight ends at smashmouth programs like Illinois and Iowa State. This isn’t a finesse offense. It will hammer the ball until you stop it.

So, with that in mind, it’s rather fitting that one of the most significant transfers that Golesh has landed in his first offseason at Auburn is a powerful running back from the program that once put the Veer-and-Shoot offense on the map.

This past weekend, Auburn signed former Baylor running back Bryson Washington from the transfer portal. Washington was the leading rusher for the Bears in each of the last two seasons, rushing for a combined 1,816 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Washington will have two seasons of eligibility remaining, and he’ll immediately plug into a running back room that already has top Auburn rusher Jeremiah Cobb (969 yards last season) and top USF back Nykahi Davenport (612 yards last season). The Tigers also have potential for the future in second-year backs Omar Mabson II and Alvin Henderson, who have both stayed on the roster so far in this transition.

Golesh believes in depth at the running back position and utilizing a real-deal rotation. Davenport was one of three running backs who averaged between six and nine carries per game, and there was a fourth veteran who played in just six contests. USF had a similar setup in 2023 and 2024, and Tennessee did the same in 2021 and 2022.

Over at 247Sports, Washington was rated as the No. 7 running back in this year’s transfer portal class. The On3 rankings have him at No. 12 and just a tick below their qualifications for a “4-star transfer.” Considering all of the quality backs that have made moves this window, Washington is clearly in the upper echelon.

The 6-foot, 216-pound playmaker originally from Franklin, Texas should fit in quite well with the rest of Auburn’s backs. He’s listed as the exact same height and weight as Davenport, who paired excellently with Brown in Golesh’s offense in 2025.

Davenport and Cobb — who is slightly smaller — might have a little more breakaway speed. But, as you’ll soon see in this edition of the Film Room, Washington provides some big-time thunder in the way he runs downhill. It’s the type of style that makes a ton of sense for a veer-and-shoot offense wanting more firepower for Year 1.

Like our Film Room last week on Brown, this piece will have four different sections that start with a supercut of video clips. We’ll pull out a few individual plays to break down, too. Let’s dive right into what makes Washington tick as a running back.